Boeing X-51A Waverider | a supersonic scramjet sets world record:

The world’s only superpower America is the topmost country with outclass military power. Still it remains busy in making it’s armed forces more powerful. It has recently experimented “X-51A Waverider” being manufactured by Boeing Company.

It is a 25 feet long cruise car without wings with no pilot inside. It’s is being provided with power by an SJY61 supersonic combustion scramjet engine.

Why named so?

This vehicle has been named as “waverider” because it travels with a hypersonic speed (5 times faster than sound) in it’s shock wave.

The record:

Waverider had made a new record of high speed a few months back when it covered a distance with a speed five times faster than sound. It’s maximum rate was 5.1 Mach which is equivalent to5417 kilometers per hour. It was released from the wings of a bomb aircraft B-52H, 50,ooo feet above Edward Air force Base at California. As the scramjet works only with a hypersonic speed, a rocket booster was used to push waverider to the high pace of 4.8 Mach (5098 km/hr). When the booster after being used got detached from the aircraft, the scramjet was forced, as a result of which waverider reached it’s maximum speed Mach 5.1. This high speed was being maintained for 3.5 minutes. About 6 minutes after it’s flight it was made to submerge inside the sea according to the plan.

Features:

Manufacturer: Boeing

Role: Robotic flight demonstrator

Status: Flight testing

Number built: Four

First flight: 26th May,2010

Primary User: United States

The American Air force research laboratory had also experimented a waverider 6 months back, however after the test flight it got uncontrolled and was destroyed because of some problem inside it.

By the help pf X51-A, the American Air Force is in fact trying to examine the technology by which it could succeed in development of a hypersonic missile or aircraft.